Review: Drake ‘Jungle’ Film

Amidst all the May madness over albums, there are some huge side projects which have been dashed off and neglected a little bit. So let me enlighten you…

PLOT

Musicians have finally realised that it just doesn’t cut it anymore to stick to one trade in the creative industries, as you’ve got to be able to showcase your work across as many platforms as possible. This has led to a rise in the number of short films based around albums, which not only give the audience more context, but also allow the artist’s creativity to fly. Take Jhené Aiko and Big Sean’s latest release, Twenty88. Not only did they drop what’s arguably the hottest collaborative project of 2016 yet, but took the time to create a storyline to really elevate the meaning of the tracks on the album, and give the audience a reason to want to listen to the album.

The distant echoes of piano keys mixed in with hazy synths and reverbs (…) create a musical landscape which accentuate Drake’s words and feelings

Audiences around the globe haven’t really caught onto the whole telenovela cinematics that artists are trying to get at, even more so with the man of the hour, Drake. Whilst his album is a great album but not a classic, he just keeps on giving the listeners more and more of what they’re after, and this time in the form of Jungle, a short biopic detailing his rise to fame, and also the rise of Toronto as a major player on the Hip-Hop landscape. This hasn’t even reached 100,000 views onDrake’s official YouTube channel yet!

The opening is Drake doing his bog standard lamenting in the back of a Rolls Royce, nothing out the ordinary there you’d think. But it feels different. He compares his sanity to what it was pre-fame, talking about how he indulges in all of life’s vices more just to feel stable, all whilst being guided to the precipice of the LA Heights, where he gets out and starts to ponder on his entire life. Grainy, sepia-drenched scenes of the formation of Toronto in the 90’s and a young Aubrey singing with his dad (a particularly funny and enlightening part, who knew he had that voice at that age!) start flashing, giving people an insight into “the beginning”.

I won’t spoil the rest for you, but the soundtrack is what makes this film. Created by Drake’s right hand man Noah “40” Shehib, it’s definitely the highlight of Jungle. If you don’t want to even look at Drake, then just close your eyes and take in the sounds and beats created by 40 in this quarter hour epic masterpiece. The distant echoes of piano keys mixed in with hazy synths and reverbs, along with the feature of some of the tracks off of Views such as U With Me? (which takes cues from DMX’s How’s It Goin’ Down?) create a musical landscape which accentuate Drake’s words and feelings, and draw the audience in to a journey which, for Drake lovers, will enlighten you, and for the naysayers, maybe, just maybe, it’ll sway you into at least giving Canada’s best export a platform to show you why he’s seen as one of the best in the game at the moment.

If you want to be one of the first million viewers, then hit the link up right here: